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Rear air bags / air shocks or ????

Digger556

Sr. Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Messages
793
Digger, great comments except I don't agree with ever adding weight ahead of the front axle to reduce rear axle weight. Yes, you are right it will unload the rear axle and add double the weight to the front axle. However, since Broncos are already nose heavy the handling really suffers on low friction surfaces. I moved my battery from the stock location, in front of the front axle to down on the frame in front of the rear axle just for this reason. As a general rule you should always try to keep the weight between the axles, as low as possible.

Regards, Tony

Yeah, I was probably thinking more about when I hitch up a trailer. Even at 200 lbs tongue weight, that adds 300lbs to the rear axle and removes 100 lbs from the front. My rig static is very close to 50/50 bias with ~950lb sprung weight at every corner.
 

taipeichris

Bronco Guru
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
1,752
Hi Guy,

TonyPDX, thank you for starting and following up with this thread! Talk about good timing. I was just looking at my sagging rear leafs today after I gassed and was thinking about the Stroppe airbag/rear add-on coil set up. But this idea is much better especially with that Daystar cradle.

Thanks again!
:cool:
 

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metal1

Full Member
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
259
Loc.
hidesert ,socal
I had an older truck that had a very soft spring set for a soft ride and for getting my boat to the river we installed a set of helwig over load springs .the unloaded ride stayed nice and smooth and then when we loaded up the helper spring started working I never tried it off road so I don't know what it would do then but on the street maybe?;)
 
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OP
TonyPDX

TonyPDX

Contributor
Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
338
BTW, here is how I control and monitor the airbags, I plumbed them separately to the individual valves on the lower left and I can see want pressure they are at on the two suspension air gauges on the upper right.
 

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DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
48,428
Hey coach... Wasn't sure which thread I should add this too, but all this "load" and "heavier springs" talk and stuff got me thinking last night about rear wheel bearings and Broncos going on long trips.

Have you discussed this with all the members going that if they're traveling heavy (and who wouldn't be after all?) they should be rolling on known-good wheel bearings?
After all, it's always when the rear is loaded with extra stuff and/or traveling at highway speeds and/or in hot weather.

Seems like your planned trip covers all the bases.

Sorry to hijack, but wanted to mention it right away while I was thinking about it.
Maybe this can be discussed over in your main trip thread too?

Paul
 

coachbarnes

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
2,717
Loc.
Franktown/Breck, CO
Hey coach... Wasn't sure which thread I should add this too, but all this "load" and "heavier springs" talk and stuff got me thinking last night about rear wheel bearings and Broncos going on long trips.

Have you discussed this with all the members going that if they're traveling heavy (and who wouldn't be after all?) they should be rolling on known-good wheel bearings?
After all, it's always when the rear is loaded with extra stuff and/or traveling at highway speeds and/or in hot weather.

Seems like your planned trip covers all the bases.

Sorry to hijack, but wanted to mention it right away while I was thinking about it.
Maybe this can be discussed over in your main trip thread too?

Paul

Most of our planning has been done on a private FB group and on a shared Google Site. We actually created a checklist for mechanical things to everyone should inspect and pay attention to prior to departure. #2 on the list is Rear Wheel Bearings! LOL No Hijack -- No problem. I feel pretty good about where we are, from a planning/prep perspective. There is a GREAT group of people going and they've done a good job thinking thru various scenarios. But I'm sure that there is something we will miss and we will definitely have some issues with these old trucks, but that's the adventure of it all! Thanks for the input -- Keep it coming! We're definitely not above missing something! Just won't be putting any spares on the hoods! ;D;D;D
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
48,428
Great to hear! I'm sure you're on it. Spare fuel pumps in common, spare bearings in common, and a few other small things spread around in a few Broncos might make all the difference between trip reports accompanies by smiley-faces vs frowny-faces.

Paul
 

metal1

Full Member
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
259
Loc.
hidesert ,socal
just back from Baja and Auto Zone parts places are in most major towns down the peninsula and had great luck finding parts for older trucks in stock also try and pay with pesos because most places give you a lower exchange rate ;)just 30 + yrs of travelin Baja experience have fun
 

Rustytruck

Bronco Guru
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
10,875
Now we need an AutoZone part number list for all the parts in a 1966-1977 Bronco. Of course my last experience with AutoZone they couldn't look up and sell me a part without it matching year, Make and Model even with a print out from their site with part # and picture. Ran into this problem with Pep Boys too.
 
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